Fresh Muddy Waters

The WTF factor

2012-01-25T01:49:00.009Z

The urban dictionary has many definitions for "WTF?!," but my favorite, closest to my point in this post is this one:

"What one would say if some dude wearing tight pink clothes and roller skates was sitting on a bench on 42nd street in the middle of New York."

Basically, following the spirit of "WTF were you thinking?"

My friend Penelope (yeah, not her real name) and I were talking about this earlier today. It seems that this young year 2012 has been full of this strange factor; odd unexpected situations that have left us completely dumbfounded. Strangely so (or not so strangely, given that we are two heterosexuals single female friends), most of them have to do with, yeah, you guessed it, men.

I’ll proceed chronologically.
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Is it time yet?

2012-01-22T01:15:00.001Z

I am torn. I am not sure what to do. My rational cold self indicates one path, and the part of me that is more loyal and appreciative wants to follow another.

The issue at hand: my job. Is it time to start looking, yet again?
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My brother, the airline captain

2012-01-18T04:00:00.003Z

My brother has been working for the Chilean airline many years now, and since the beginning we have been trying to schedule a flight together. However, one way or another, something has always come up and it has never been possible. Until this past holiday season, that is.
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Ojos

2012-01-10T03:38:00.001Z

20 years ago, my nickname was "Ojos" ("Eyes") and I never knew...
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Infographic: how bikes can save the world

2012-01-02T19:09:00.000Z

Had to share...

Created by: Healthcare Management Degree

Old year, new year

2011-12-18T00:17:00.005Z

Ok, kids, time for the pseudo-philosophical post looking back to the year that ends and looking forward to the one that will soon begin... And since not long ago I was accused of writing like an engineer, I may do it in bullet points. Or maybe not, but close.

This year sucked. Big huge time. Well, mostly the first ¾ of it. But I turned 40 during the last quarter, so I might as well round it up to the entire year.
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Bonking to de-blob

2011-12-11T18:32:00.005Z

About two or three months ago, I started noticing that my clothes were fitting a bit too tight, and even my upgraded bras were kind oh, hmmmm, overflowing. Soooooo, being as pretentious as I am, I got worried.

I decided to face the truth. I stepped on the evil, dreaded, and always truth-telling scale. And I had a moment….. A HOLY FUCKING SHIT moment… Yes, it was THAT bad. I had never seen those obscene numbers before. And, of course, pretentious girl over here completely and absolutely freaked out.
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That’s it. I want to be a gay man.

2011-11-30T03:03:00.002Z

Really, I do, I want to be a gay man. Kidding, well, sort of; here’s the evidence:
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A serious case of Mondays... aka, insanity, redux

2011-11-22T04:39:00.005Z

You know those days? Those when you should have stayed home, with your head under the covers? Well, yes, today was one of those. And it was a Monday. It *had* to be a Monday. A Monday on crack, big time.

First, work, all over, and under, and on my sides, everywhere, with people making me waste my time, which usually does not make me particularly happy…. Let’s put it this way, I had the most “fuck you” person in the firm absolutely scared of me and shying away, that is how pissed I was. I must confess that yelling at a couple of incompetent people made me feel a lot better. That is how mean I am. Ha.

Insanity

2011-11-09T04:24:00.000Z

What drives people that used to love each other to do the unimaginable to hurt each other when a relationship ends? Why?

By an accident of fate, I introduced two friends of mine at a bar several months ago. He, I knew from cycling. She, I used to work with and dragged along with me that evening. They liked each other and started dating. Fast forward a few months and they moved in together. Maybe it was two soon, disaster stroke. The relationship was destroyed.

No pain, no gain

2011-11-04T01:18:00.000Z

As I may or may not have conveyed earlier, I kinda really really hate using the trainer for my cycling training. Yet, I am complete cold wimp. It’s a conundrum. So, the question of every fall season comes up again, what am I to do to train now that it’s getting cold outside?

I keep hearing about people’s adoration for rollers. Well, maybe not exactly adoration, riding outside in nice weather is always better. But, compared to the trainer, rollers apparently are some sort of a heavenly invention.

What the hell are rollers? You may ask. Well, they are some sort of a treadmill for bikes. Here is a pic:

The commuting dilemma

2011-10-15T20:30:00.000+01:00

As I said before, I have a new job (yay!). And one of the good things of this job is that there is a bike trail that pretty much starts at the door of my house, and ends in the parking lot of the building where I work. Just like that, if I ride to work, I do not have to deal with cars any more.

On top of that, the ride is just beautiful. The trail goes in the middle of the woods, away from any roads, very rarely you see anyone else and it feels like you have the entire space for yourself. It’s also fairly flat, and the distance is 7 miles exactly, so I’ve been riding my single speed and I end up with about 25 really nice minutes on the bike each way. To make things even easier, I have a shower at work too. It couldn’t be more perfect.

So…. What is the dilemma? It seems like a no brainer, right?
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I need a man, not a boy

2011-10-12T12:56:00.000+01:00

Seriously, I've had enough of boys already.

'nuf said.
A Hard Man

Now, I want a steak. Bloody and mooing.

Killing me softly

2011-10-10T00:37:00.000+01:00

It’s been a long time… But I am back. Maybe not for long, or maybe for long, but I won’t commit. I am a commitment phobic like that. You know, like to play hard to get and all that stuff. Ha, I wish.

Anyhoo, I HAVE A JOB!!! And this job has turned into the most jealous obsessive possessive lover I have ever had (hence the lack of posting, actually). And the sex sucks. Oh, well.

Let me start from the beginning. I actually have been working for about a month now, and I got the job offer exactly 2 weeks before that. And it was a surprise. I still had one upcoming interview left with this place, so when I received the phone call while driving towards my cycling training place, I imagined the worst. I thought the dude (dude=owner, president and CEO of the company) was calling me to cancel the upcoming interview, since, you know, they weren’t just that into me.
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Hand-writing is hard exercise

2011-08-22T21:28:00.000+01:00

I was just working on an employment application that for some miracle of the technology had to be filled by hand. How weird is that? I didn’t believe that was even possible anymore. How innocent of me.

Anyhoo, my first observation from performing this strange exercise was that it felt really weird, my hand is so used to typing than this handwriting thing does not feel natural anymore.

The second observation is that it was taking me ages… Let’s face it, I have never been a fast hand-writer, but this was ridiculous.

Then, by page 2 or 3 of the application, my hand started hurting. Muscular pain, like, it was too hard an exercise for it. Apparently, my hand muscles have grown lazy and out of shape, and filling this thing by hand was too much exercise for it. Never thought this was possible either.

So, what now? Should I start exercising my hand? What kind of workout should that be? Suggestions are welcome….

A change in diet

2011-08-17T16:28:00.004+01:00

First, I heard from my ex-employer who decided not to pay me about $1,000 that they owe me for parking reimbursement. Then, I got yet another employment rejection email today, this time from a place I was actually hopeful about. After that, I filed for unemployment benefits; have you heard about those? They are the money payed by hard working Americans to that all those lazy bums -like me- who do not want to work.

All this before noon.

I am starting to consider changing my diet to ramen noodles only.

Cleaning, ordering, de-cluttering, detox-ing my life

2011-08-16T16:55:00.005+01:00

I need to do cleaning. I keep too much clutter... Things and people that I keep around for sentimental and “political” reasons, just-in-case; and that, at the end, weight me down and that I need to let go.

But… it is hard. I have always had issues letting go of everything. Learning to do seems a somewhat painful process that takes you to some unknown land.

I started with Facebook. I seemed the easier first step. And about 50 “friends,” people I barely knew in some past life or those I have not talked to in 20 years were dropped. I need to revisit that list, I think letting go becomes easier once you get started. I also built a “No Wall” list, those who cannot see my wall.
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My phone is haunted...

2011-07-26T19:03:00.003+01:00

... or it hates me. Or, most likely, Android just sucks.

It all started on Friday, when my phone tells me that it needs to upgrade the OS and the Verizon software in it, and it will do it whether I like it or not. I saw no harm on it. Oh, how innocent I was...

The issues started on Saturday evening (that I know of). I sent a text to a friend, I was on my way to meet him, and somehow it went to my ex. Great. Oooops (Although, I can imagine the face of horror he must have had when he received that text. Ha!). I promptly apologized and since, luckily, we are friends too, he laughed at the whole thing.

Addicted

2011-05-04T22:11:00.000+01:00

Houston, I have a problem: I am addicted to bikes. I am a friggin' bike junkie.

Grrrrr ... The marriage between asthma and cycling is on the rocks

2011-05-01T18:30:00.001+01:00

I am grumpy, cranky and pissed off. F' asthma.

The report of today's racing disaster is here.

ARRRRRGGHHHHHHHH!!!!

The good news is that I got that non-elusive first crash of the season out of the way

2011-04-22T05:40:00.005+01:00

** You can also read this post on my new all-things-bicycle-to-keep-the-more-personal-stuff-away-from-other-local-not-really-friends-cyclists blog here **

Every year, every season, there is always that one first bike crash looming on the horizon, almost like a rite of passage, that every cyclist has to get out of the way. Well, the good news is that I got that non-elusive first crash out of the way yesterday. The bad news is that #!#$%&^%$##% headache I’ve had all day today, and the 5 hours that I spent in the %&^%^%#@!#!! ER last night.

And it was a stupid crash. Oh, so very stupid. Somebody needs to give me a stupidity prize for it: I actually run into a car. Yes. *I* hit the car. From behind. Guess who won.

The thing is I should have not been riding yesterday, as I had a bit of food poisoning and not feeling quite hot. But I am addicted. And as a good addicted, and one feeling pretty out of shape to top, I *had* to go train. So I did.

I started riding in some sort of autopilot mode, in a fog, not really paying attention to my surroundings and just pedaling. I’d be fine, I thought, as disaster could strike only if something out of the ordinary that needs quick reaction happens, but that is never the case, right? RIGHT? Shuddup.

The first lap at Hains Point went ok. The second lap was better. The third lap…. Well, this is when trouble started. My asthma kicked in, and I slowed down, was coughing and looking down (First rule of riding bikes, kids, always ALWAYS keep an eye on the road). Then that Illinois minivan decided to stop in the middle of the road, go figure out why. And I was looking down. When I finally looked up, it was too close and personal for comfort.

I did not have time to brake or swerve to the side. So I got plastered in its back. Laws of physics apply: action, reaction and gravity, and they did not like me too much yesterday. So, I bounced back falling and hitting the back of my head on the curb (second rule of riding bikes, kids, always ALWAYS wear a helmet, no matter how much it messes up your hair and how dorky you look. It is always better to be a lively dork than a stylish tardy or, worse, a stylish corpse). Sometime during my crash (which I have not been able to fully reconstruct), I also managed to make a big gash on my chin that required stitches along with assorted hits to the rest of my body that made no sense whatsoever. Oh, well.

I strongly refused an ambulance and tried to sneak out on my bike to ride to my car, drive to my house and hide under my bed while hugging my dogs. I was utterly unsuccessful in my sneaking out efforts. At this moment my friend and teammate LP appeared and turned into my guardian angel. I am sure I saw wings on her back at some point. We found someone who could drive my car to the GW ER (seriously, I think more people need to know how to drive stick) and off we went.

Once we got to the ER, we discovered that "I hit my head and neck on a bike crash" are the secret magic words to be seen right away. But they do not help much when you just want to go home. We spent 5 wonderful hours there, with me wearing that horrendous collar along with my boobs, bra and jersey all bloody and both of us starving to death. We spent our time talking about bikes, crashes past, present and future, scars, men (we were absolutely shocked of not seen ANY cute doctors around, WHERE WERE THEY?), and mostly daydreaming of pizza, hamburgers and beer.

The head and neck CTs said that I am ok, just a small concussion (remember that helmet!), and not any crazier than usual. I also got some pretty cool stitches on my chin that will make me look tough and will hopefully make for a sexy scar.

An observation from our long ER hours, apparently two women walking like ducks on stiff cycling shoes and wearing the same spandex outfit on an ER can turn into some sort of celebrities (or maybe just a tourist attraction or something like that). Both of us overhead few conversations about us and riding bikes, and were asked questions about it and about clipless pedals. We were even called professional cyclists. HA! If they really knew... Also, we took pics (hey, those were *5* LONG hours), and upon sharing them on Facebook I have discovered that, apparently, the pic of me with a neck brace, a bloody bra, a bloody cleavage and a bloody jersey is considered hot by other cyclists. Go figure. Cyclists are weird (no, I am not complaining).

Oh, well. I’ll be back on my bike tomorrow as some magical premonition led me to buy a helmet online last week that arrived YESTERDAY. Talk about timely.

I also ordered and additional helmet today. It is good to be prepared. Now I need to get ready for that second crash of the season...

Branching out

2011-04-18T19:41:00.001+01:00

So, as I threatened before, I branched out for all things bike related. This is the new place of my cycling misadventures.

So it begins...

2011-03-15T18:25:00.004Z

It's that time of the year. People are sneezing and eyes are watery all around; it is getting slightly warmer and windier, signs of an unstable weather; trees start to show some signs of being alive and random rain sparks here and there. Spring is here, and with spring, the 2011 racing season.

I spent last weekend rediscovering riding my bike outside and at the same time realizing that my shape is absolutely deplorable: I can summarize my Saturday and Sunday as either being on the bike, or in a bike-induced-coma-while-attempting-to-recover-via-couch-potato-therapy. Oh, well.

So, what came out of it? Aside from really really tired legs and never-ending hunger, I realized that, as said above, I am in a god-awful shape (this is relative to my lady-bike-riding friends and ass-kicking competition), and I decided that the best way to get back in shape is to race myself into it. Or to crash myself out of it –whatever happens first. Yay.

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About the occasion I decided to hit on a cop, or why mixing allergy pills and alcohol may not be such a good idea

2011-02-16T22:39:00.000Z

As a result of my efforts to run away from sticky hallmark couples this past V-day, I ended up at my favorite local bar eating delicious hamburgers and drinking, of course, Chilean red wine. In the middle of the conversation with my friend, he and I started telling each other stories of crazy things done in past lives. The conversation reminded me of the occasion when I made a very serious and straightforward effort to flirt with an on-duty police officer... Yeah... ok.

This happened while at Grad School, several years back. I may even have had a boyfriend at the moment, or, more likely, a “whatever”, as my denomination of choice is when things are unclear in terms of where a relationship stands. Even more, said “whatever” was also at this party.
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The world is, at times, very small

2011-02-14T23:13:00.002Z

Funny little story from this weekend... I went to this housewarming party on Saturday, at my friend’s D. She bought the house about a year ago and has fully transformed it to look pretty amazing right now.

D is a very charming woman with a pretty varied circle of friends from many different areas in her life; this means that I did not know many of the people at the party. Anyways, at some point I saw this guy who looked incredibly familiar, but not matter how much I tried to think and place him, I was unable to do it. When I finally made it to start chatting with him, I could not hold myself and had to
ask. Yes, I looked familiar to him too…

Me: Where do you work?

Him (E): I work at XX
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